The extended overnight skill trip from Haukeli Centre to Hovden began Sunday morning. Will and Laura’s cars allowed 11 of us to travel together, upon arriving at Hovden we all had to catch another two buses to finally arrive in a dark -15 Haukeli Centre. To keep us warm we flattened out an area roughly 150 metres away from any buildings to maintain our right of ‘all mans rights’. After setting up our tents we had a fire going which provided much needed warm for the entire group, I made a nutritious meal of mixed veggies and pre-cooked pasta which was quick and tasty. I headed to bed cold but filled with excitement for tomorrow. My sleeping system (closed cell mat, air mat, bivy bag, sleeping bag and thermolite liner) provided me with plenty of layers to keep warm and have a solid night sleep.

It was surreal waking up the next morning, as the it was overcast and everything in site the sky and mountains were completely white. I’d soon learn that it was hard to comprehend how much decline or incline a hill had because of this. My feet were extremely cold this morning, it was difficult waiting for people to pack whilst your ready to go and cold so we played some games to keep warm and preoccupy ourselves. After about 30 minutes of skiing with frozen feet a rush if blood entered back and life was peachy. However not long after this I managed to pull my left groin; quite annoying as I did stretch and wasn’t doing anything strenuous. This injury would continue till the following week, at the time I treated this a motivation to challenge me further on this trip. The first day we managed to ski for 10 hours and covering a distance of 20km. With my groin getting worse and blisters appearing I was physically done by the end of the day; I was extremely happy to see a DNT hut. The final hour of skiing we were navigating in the dark relying on a single bearing to get us to a hut, luckily Aaron was on top of night navigation. Deciding to ski in the dark was an autocratic decision which didn’t sit well with everyone was at different levels of exhaustion. Nevertheless we were happy to reach the DNT hut. Whilst drying out our gear we met a Norwegian travelling 2500km north with his dog staying close by, as I type this today he’ll still being skiing out there, I have nothing but respect for this man!

Day 2 was a shorter and easier day than yesterdays effort. Covering almost 7km along  frozen lake before skiing up and down hills for the early afternoon, in total we covered about 14km Tuesday. Weather conditions today we a little overcast, it was hard to distinguish the horizon and mountains at times. It’s also interesting seeing how the wind snow alters land features when comparing them to your map, this is something you must consider in snow environments. Both Monday and Tuesday’s group dynamic was not ideal. The group was spread out majority of the day with slower members having essentially no time to rest once catching up to the rest of the group. As the group of 11 was originally two separate groups planning on doing different trips, however changed with conditions north being unfavourable. There were two obvious ego’s that were causing subtle tension amongst the whole group, this didn’t cause huge issues however it was noticeable to creating an continuous positive group dynamic. Tuesday we decided to stop at 3pm as we skied further than intended. We had plenty of time to make camp, build snow walls, dig snow profiles and ski around the surrounding area in the beautiful blue bird weather. This particular afternoon was the highlight of the trip as spirits were high and everyone freely did what they wanted. As the sun set the weather instantly shifted to coldness, I lost so much dexterity in my hands I had to my veggies with my mouth. Not long after having dinner I couldn’t feel my feet so I snuggled in the my sleeping bag, I stuck my feet in my down jacket and surprisingly within 30 seconds my feet were completely fine! This night was particularly windy which woke me up multiple times and had me bring in certain equipment out of the snow filled vestibule area.

Day 3, Wednesday was another 14 km day with majority of it being downhill back into Hovden before meeting civilisation again. Before skiing into Hovden we navigated up through multiple mountainous valley’s that were beautiful. The pulk definitely slowed the whole group down here. It was good experience to use and understand how the pulk handles however it was more of a burden for the group considering it was carrying mostly useless gear. Today there was a noticeable positive shift in group dynamics today as the mindset of home was near so there wasn’t so much of a rush. Everyone was more positive and staying as a group. Skiing through the mountains here was a lot of fun, it challenged me enough however I was able to control most of the descents. Skiing downhill in the powder swaying in between small trees and scrubs was the highlight of today. Our student organised trip was at good level to prepare me for the upcoming snow hole trip and learnt some tips for next trip like having more meal prep and sleeping with my down jacket over my feet. This 3 day adventure challenged me enough as I was pushed physically with a heavy overnight pack, my injuries and the distance we travelled by ski’s. This trip as made me curious about what my breaking limit is both mentally and physically, as physically I was getting close to this limit the first day.